Men's Basketball Hosts No. 17/16 Villanova On Sunday Afternoon

Sunday, February 24

Cincinnati, Ohio

1:30 p.m.

Xavier University

Villanova

Men's Basketball Hosts No. 17/16 Villanova On Sunday Afternoon

02.22.19 | Men's Basketball

Xavier Game Notes vs. Villanova

Musketeers have won three straight games.

By: Tom Eiser, Xavier Athletic Communications

CINCINNATI --- The Xavier University Musketeers, 14-13 overall and 6-8 in the BIG EAST Conference, host the No. 17/16 Villanova University Wildcats, 20-7 overall and 11-3 in the BIG EAST, on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. in a game that will be seen nationally on CBS.

Xavier is coming off its third straight win and its second straight BIG EAST road win, 70-69 at Seton Hall on Wednesday. Sophomore Naji Marshall led Xavier in scoring with a career-high 28 points (the highest total for a Musketeer in a game this season) to go with six rebounds and five assists. Marshall tied a career high with five 3-pointers. Junior Tyrique Jones posted his eighth double-double of the season with 18 points and 15 rebounds.

Xavier and Villanova will be wearing retro uniforms for Sunday's game. Villanova will wear Navy '85 retros, while Xavier will wear a retro uniform used during the Eighties with the Running Man logo. Xavier first used the Running Man logo in the 1983-84 basketball season. The first version of the current X logo was unveiled along with other secondary marks at Musketeer Madness prior to the 1996-97 season.

Villanova leads the series 27-5, including wins in the last five meetings. Xavier's last win in the series was a 90-83 victory over then-No. 1 Villanova at Cintas Center (2-24-16). Xavier suffered an 85-75 loss at then-No. 22 Villanova on Jan. 18 despite a career-high 21 points with a game-high 12 rebounds from junior Tyrique Jones. Xavier and Villanova battled to a near draw for 30 minutes as VU led 51-50 midway through the second half. Xavier dominated points in the paint 42-28 but Villanova offset that advantage with 15 made 3-pointers.

THE MATCHUP

Xavier University Musketeers (14-13, 6-8 BIG EAST)
No. 17/16 Villanova University Wildcats (20-7, 11-3 BIG EAST)
Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019 at 1:30 p.m. ET
Cintas Center (10,224) in Cincinnati

TV, RADIO AND LIVE STATS

Television: CBS, including Local 12 in Cincinnati, with play-by-play from Andrew Catalon and analysis from Steve Lappas.
Xavier Radio: 55KRC-AM, including via iHeart Radio, TuneIn and via Sirius (98), XM (201) and Internet (964) with play-by-play from XU Hall of Famer and former Musketeer standout Joe Sunderman ('79). Analysis will be provided by Xavier Hall of Famer and XU all-time leading scorer Byron Larkin ('88).
Live Stats: Media stats at Statbroadcast.com. Fan stats at GoXavier.com.

X FACTORS

• Xavier, 14-13 overall and 6-8 in the BIG EAST Conference, won its third straight game with a 70-69 win at Seton Hall on Wednesday.
• Xavier sophomore Naji Marshall has averaged 21.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game during the three-game winning streak. He scored a career-high 28 points at Seton Hall, the highest point total by a Musketeer so far this season.
• Xavier's Naji Marshall leads the team in scoring (14th in the BIG EAST at 14.3 ppg.) and is second in rebounding (eighth in the BIG EAST at 6.7 rpg.) and assists (10th in BIG EAST at 3.5 apg.).
• Xavier soph. Paul Scruggs is XU's second-leading scorer (20th in the BIG EAST at 12.0 ppg.) and team leader in 3-point percentage (fourth in the BIG EAST at .433).
• Xavier junior Quentin Goodin, who leads the team in assists (third in BIG EAST at 4.7 apg.), has 411 career assists and is ninth on XU's all-time career assist leader list. He has 109 assists this season in 23 games, his third straight 100+ assist season.
• Xavier junior Tyrique Jones, who posted back-to-back double-doubles in the road wins at Providence and Seton Hall, leads the team in rebounding (fourth in the BIG EAST at 7.7 rpg.) and offensive rebounding (first in the BIG EAST at 3.4 rpg.).
• Xavier graduate transfer Zach Hankins leads the BIG EAST Conference in field goal percentage (.682) and is second in the BIG EAST in blocks (1.5 bpg.). Hankins is on pace to break the XU single-season field goal percentage mark of former NBA standout Brian Grant (.654 in 1992-93).
• Xavier has four players averaging in double figures in scoring through 27 games and a fifth at 9.9 ppg.
• Xavier has graduated 109 straight men's basketball seniors dating back to the 1985-86 school year.

VIDEO: TRAVIS STEELE